[LINK] Google's WiFi bungle
Graham Greenleaf
graham at austlii.edu.au
Wed May 19 17:45:15 AEST 2010
At 5:25 PM +1000 19/5/10, David Vaile wrote:
> > Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 07:22:41 +1000
>> From: Stilgherrian <stil at stilgherrian.com>
>> Subject: Re: [LINK] Google's WiFi bungle
>>
>> Personally I don't think mapping the SSIDs of Wi-Fi networks is a breach
>> of privacy, since it IS broadcast information and it isn't personally
> > identifiable in and of itself.
My two cents worth is that, for the Privacy Act, 'identifiable in and
of itself' is not the test. Can it become identifiable ('can
reasonably be ascertained') if the holder also holds (or is likely to
hold) other data that would make it personally identifiable? If so,
it will be 'personal information' and this is probably unjustifiable
collection.
I say 'probably' because the collection must breach one bit of NPP1 at least:
1.1 An organisation must not collect personal information unless the
information is necessary for one or more of its functions or
activities.
1.2 An organisation must collect personal information only by lawful
and fair means and not in an unreasonably intrusive way.
Whether it is 'broadcast' is not exactly the point for NPP 1, though
David's comments are relevant for other purposes.
Stating the obvious I guess ...
Cheers,
Graham
PS I have not been following every post, this may well have been said
many times over.
--
--
Graham Greenleaf
Professor of Law
Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales - Room 224
UNSW SYDNEY NSW 2052 Australia (UNSW CRICOS Provider No: 00098G)
Co-Director, Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII)
Co-Director, Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre
Asia-Pacific Editor, Privacy Laws & Business International
International Scholar, Kyung-Hee Law School, Seoul, Korea, 2009-10
E-mail: g.greenleaf at unsw.edu.au or graham at austlii.edu.au
Web Pages - http://www2.austlii.edu.au/~graham/
Legal Scholarship Network (LSN) pages - http://ssrn.com/author=57970
Tel: +61 2 9385 2233 (UNSW) +61 2 9569 5310 (Home)
Fax: +61 2 9385 1175 (UNSW) Office: Room 224, Law Faculty Building, UNSW
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